Brian Johnson

Episode 42: Sit in a Room and Read--and Read and Read!

Moyers: “How do we know
these things [how experience bliss]?”

Campbell: “I’ll tell
you a way, a very nice way. Sit in a room and read--and read and
read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is
brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning
rapture all the time. This realization of life can be a constant
realization in your living. When you find an author who really grabs
you, read everything he has done. Don’t say, “Oh, I want to know
what So-and-so did”--and don’t bother at all with the best-seller
list. Just read what this one author has to give you. And then you
can go read what he had read. And the world opens up in a way that is
consistent with a certain point of view. But when you go from one
author to another, you may be able to tell us the date when each
wrote such and such a poem--but he hasn’t said anything to you.”
~ Joseph Campbell fromThe
Power of Myth

Related Links:

Transcript

Sit in a Room and Read--and Read and Read!

Moyers: “How do we know
these things [how experience bliss]?”

Campbell: “I’ll tell
you a way, a very nice way. Sit in a room and read--and read and
read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is
brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning
rapture all the time. This realization of life can be a constant
realization in your living. When you find an author who really grabs
you, read everything he has done. Don’t say, “Oh, I want to know
what So-and-so did”--and don’t bother at all with the best-seller
list. Just read what this one author has to give you. And then you
can go read what he had read. And the world opens up in a way that is
consistent with a certain point of view. But when you go from one
author to another, you may be able to tell us the date when each
wrote such and such a poem--but he hasn’t said anything to you.”
~ Joseph Campbell fromThe
Power of Myth

Love that. This is pretty much how I’ve picked the books I’m
reading. When I fall in love with an author I tend to read all
of their stuff (I’ve read nearly all of Coelho, Abraham-Hicks, Dan
Millman, and most of Campbell, Dyer and Deepak and a *lot* of my
other favorites). AND I love going to the back of their books and
looking at their recommended reading lists and then IMMEDIATELY
Amazoning the ones that resonate with me/I noted while reading.

How about you? Are you *really* diving into the authors you
dig and then reading the peeps THEY recommend or are you kinda
skimming the surface of a lot of the “best-sellers”? Also, WHO
CARES if we can quote a poem or cite the date so and so said this
about whatever if the authors haven’t said anything to us
and we don’t LIVE the truths?!? The ONLY reason to study this stuff
is to LIVE it, eh?

So, two lessons in this Big Idea: 1. Go deep into the authors you
dig and really soak ‘em up! 2. LIVE the truths you are studying! :)